Family Project

Kate has been in a big girl bed since last summer, but her mattress has just been sitting on the floor waiting for a frame. I saw a friend put on her Facebook status a couple weeks ago that she was looking to get rid of a daybed with a trundle and thought it would be perfect for Kate!

It was a cream color originally, so this morning we sanded it down and spray painted it a glossy white to match Kate's bedroom furniture. Kate LOVED getting to help - especially once she strapped on her Home Depot apron so she could look the part. Cody, Kate, and I all took turns sanding it down, I did the painting, we all carried the pieces to her room, and Cody assembled it (with Kate's help). After it was all said and done, it really turned out wonderful!

Here's a few pics and a 45 sec video of our first family fun project:

Google is awesome...

Cody's been saying Google is awesome for as long as I can remember, and today I'm inclined to agree with him. During a little internet jaunt this afternoon I found this website:

http://www.google.com/goog411/about.html

According to that website, if you dial 1-800-GOOG-411 you can place a call for information for FREE. Yep, I said FREE. None of the typical ridiculous information charges applied!

While we lived in Lubbock it was easy to carry an extra FEIST phone book in the back of my car so I'd have all the numbers in the city in one place if I needed something, but around the DFW area there are so many cities so close together there is no way to be able to carry around all those phone books (I'm not a proud owner of an IPHONE). But now my problems are solved - I'll just pick up my cell and dial Google to ask for the number without having to worry about what sort of insane charge will be popping up on my phone bill.

Google is awesome.

The Power to be Brave

Last night around 9:45 Cody and I heard the dogs in the yards behind and beside us engaged in some sort of very heated dispute. I hardly had the words out of my mouth to tell Cody that if those dogs don't stop barking like that they're going to wake Kate up before we heard a little three year old voice from down the hall say, "Momma? Momma? MOMMA?"

Here's a brief run-down of our conversation:
M: "What's the matter, baby?"
K: "Those dogs are ruffing too loud - they woke me up."
M: "I'm sorry..."
K: "They make me scared. I want to be brave. Momma, can you make me brave?"

My mommy mind went into immediate overdrive as I scrambled to try to figure out how to answer this question truthfully and yet in a way that could help her go back to sleep.

Kate participated in POWER WEEK last summer at our church's Power Lab VBS. For all five weekdays she learned about the power to do something, but as a two year old she was only able to retain the one of those truths on a long-term basis: Jesus gives us the POWER to be brave. But because she was able to latch onto that one truth, we've been able to talk about being brave many times when she's scared or when she sees someone else who is afraid, so last night during my frantic mind scramble the familiar "Jesus gives us the power to be brave" phrase seemed to resonate as the most appropriate way to answer her.

M: "Momma would make you be brave if I could, but who gives us the power to be brave?"
K: "Jesus!" (she's always so proud to know that answer)
M: "I think you should ask Jesus to help you be brave so you aren't scared of the dogs."

She accepted my answer without question - probably because that VBS truth has taken root in her. I was so tempted to selfishly step in as a momma hero and try to save the day by granting her request to make her brave on my own somehow, when the answer she needed wasn't for me to try to manufacture some sort of temporary human fix for her problem... the answer she needed was my honest admission of powerlessness to help while pointing her to the One who could.

And then she prayed a very short and simple, yet more self-directed prayer than she ever has before asking Jesus to help her be brave and sleep. It was one of my proudest parenting moments so far - some nights I go to bed so disappointed with myself and frustrated over things like missing/possibly eaten earrings, but other nights I go to bed with a smile in my heart because I'm so proud of the little girl my baby is growing into!

Free Denny's Breakfast

Did you see the Denny's Superbowl commercial announcing they would be offering a FREE grand slam breakfast platter today from 8 to 2? I did... so guess where Kate and I went this morning?!?

I've never stepped foot into a Denny's before, but the invitation for free breakfast was enough to convince me to give them a try. I decided to try to avoid the crowds by taking Kate to brunch around 10:15, but as you can see from the pic above - the crowd was still lined up around the building. I debated whether to stay or go, but since I'd already gotten Kate excited about our free eggs, pancakes, bacon, and sausage and I didn't have any where else I needed to be this morning, we found a parking spot and hopped in line.

The line was long, but we only had to wait about 30 minutes before it was our turn. We talked with several interesting people while we stood in line - it was the same sort of bond of excitement that I share every year with the people standing around me in line at 4am on Black Friday waiting to get into Best Buy or Toys R Us to purchase Christmas presents at great prices. Bargain lines are happy places and everyone seems to be in a great, chatty mood - it's a polar opposite experience from the grumpy, trudging line of silence while you wait to pay a bill or do anything else unpleasant where it feels like you're getting the short end of the stick.

I gave Kate some breakfast early this morning when she woke up to tide her over until our Momma/Daughter brunch date, but the waitress barely had our food on the table before Kate was scarfing it down. And since she obeyed so well and stood patiently next to me while we stood in line, I thought I'd splurge a little and let her pick whatever she wanted to drink. Luckily she chose orange juice, but I was prepared for her to use this as a prime opportunity to order her first coke!

When they brought the bill to the table I just sat there and smiled at it while I finished chewing my bacon. It felt so good to have had a nice breakfast with Kate for only $1.29!! I know we had to wait a little while for it - but quite honestly, I don't remember the last time we went to IHOP and didn't have to wait several minutes for a table (and we had to PAY for our food!).

We wholeheartedly enjoyed our food (Kate even gave it a thumbs up when she was finished), the workers were all very kind even though they were under definite stress from being so extremely busy, the table was clean, and the price was definitely nice - so Denny's efforts with the Bettis family definitely paid off this morning because we're much more likely to visit Denny's in the future after this good experience.

Sweet Home Alabama - Kate Style

Hope this two and a half minute dose of goodness brightens your day:

Tom Thumb Ridiculousness

I'm a girl who loves finding creative ways to save my family money. In order to get a good deal, I'm willing to sacrifice a good amount of time clipping & organizing coupons, scouring store ads, and driving around town to shop at more than one store to save a buck or two. Today when I was looking through the newspaper inserts I found one of the most confusing ads I've ever seen: the Tom Thumb ad.

There was a great coupon on the front page that caught my eye immediately - about $8 for 4 12-packs of coke (limit one with reward card, only good today). $2 a 12-pack is a good price so I decided to take a trip to Tom Thumb this afternoon - but since I was making a special trip I looked for any other good deals I should pick up while I was in there. It took me longer than I care to admit to work my way through the ad, read all the fine print on the various deals, and realize how ridiculous it truly was...

There was what appeared to be an awesome coupon on the back of the flyer for $10 off a $50 purchase. But when I read the fine print I saw that you had to have $50 after store coupons and manufacturer's coupons, it is only good through Tuesday, there are a ton of exceptions of things that you can't use to add up to the $50 total, and I can't use it with the coke deal (or any other special deal in the paper)... all of which made it not a very good deal at all. The next thing I was excited about was a coupon on the front page of the flyer for a free pizza (normally $5.99) from the deli with a $25 purchase. This $25 needed to be after store coupons, but not manufacturer's coupons (YAY!)... but it was only good for today (OK) and at the very end of the fine print it says that you can't use this coupon in conjunction with ANY other special store offer (like the coke coupon or the $10 off $50 - BOO). Also through the paper there were specials only good from 8am to 8pm today, deals for all day today, deals for the week, deals for 8 days, and a variety of deals only effective until Tuesday night. There were coupons to cut out to get some deals, they showed coupons you could only get online and add to your shoppers card to get a deal, and a few deals you could get by simply using your Reward Card. OH MY GOODNESS HOW RIDICULOUS!

After trying for too long to find a way to do my weekly shopping at Tom Thumb with what initially appeared to be some great deals, I finally just gave up and decided to just run in for the Cokes - I'll stick with the good ole Kroger for groceries this week... a place where there isn't so much fine print and restrictions to save money.

While I was standing in line at Tom Thumb waiting for my turn to check out (holding my Reward Card and my special coupon I clipped out of the paper) I felt validated when I saw evidence of OTHER people being confused too - even a SERVICE MANAGER of the Tom Thumb...

The man in front of me had a total of $32 of groceries (including the awesome Coke deal). The Service Manager checking him out very kindly asked him if he wanted a free pizza because he qualified for it since he spent more than $25 today. My brain shouted "WHAT?!? You CAN do the pizza deal and the coke deal together? How did I miss that since I read the fine print 85 times trying to understand it?!?" in my head, but I restrained myself to calmly stand and wait patiently to see how it would play out.

He answered her question with, "Sure." She said, "Pepperoni or cheese?" He said, "Pepperoni." She ran over to grab him a pizza and rang it up along with a "free pizza with a $25 purchase" coupon. The computer took the $.99 deduction off because he is a Reward Card holder, but it left $5 for the pizza on his total despite the coupon - but I was the only one to notice the problem. The manager was smiling because she thought she helped him and he was smiling because he thought he'd just gotten a free deli pizza when she said, "Okay, that brings your total to $37." They were still smiling at each other as he reached in his wallet to pay her.

WHAT?!? A free pizza shouldn't add $5 to your total! But they were STILL too busy smiling at each other thinking about what a great deal they accomplished together to notice. I thought about saying something because it wasn't right, but I faltered because I didn't want to spoil all their smiles. In retrospect I probably should have said something to help clear up the confusion and save the guy his $5 for a pizza he didn't even want originally... but I was too stunned at the fact no one noticed the total was $5 higher to speak.

So I walked out the door with my 4 12-packs and clear validation that the Tom Thumb circular really was WAY too complicated this week since at least one other customer - as well as an intelligent member of the management team of Tom Thumb - were also clearly confused by all that fine print. Good deals are awesome and can definitely get me in your store - but a deal shouldn't be so confusing that no one (even people who work for your company) can't figure them out easily. Hopefully next week we'll have better luck with the Tom Thumb circular... otherwise I may have to send an email to Mr. Thumb on behalf of confused consumers in DFW.